


Venom

by XDragonessX



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Heavy Angst, Major Character Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-11-16 14:06:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20834924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XDragonessX/pseuds/XDragonessX
Summary: Exploring a new island goes a little wrong when Snotlout gets bitten...By a slitherwing. *Gory sh*t ahead*





	Venom

One by one, the slitherwings began emerging out of their dens, small holes in the ground that hugged their bodies and looked as though the animals were being birthed from the Earth itself. The riders spun in panicked circles as the swarm of angry dragons began to tighten into an unescapable circle, wings raised and threatening.

The group had been exploring a newly mapped island found by none other than the twins just a few moons before; eager to observe, Hiccup and Fishlegs had hurriedly packed their things and urged the others to do the same, setting off into the Great Beyond at first light. On arrival, the dragons were tired, but found great joy in a tumbling waterfall, alive with leaping salmon. The riders had left them there to feed and recharge, but had accidentally stumbled on a slithering nest.

These slitherwings were slightly different to the group they had encountered before. Their colours were darker, maroons and purples with broken, yellow straiations along the length of their slender, slightly smaller bodies. Hiccup guessed they were a form of locality or subspecies - an interesting prospect, were they not in the danger of being killed by one. The only weapon in the group was Astrid's axe, but against such quick reptiles it may as well have been useless.

"Hiccup, plan please!" Astrid's voice was raised with urgency, her axe raised uncertainly, pivoting from one target to another - occasionally swinging it when one dragon came too close. The group rotated in a circle, knowing Astrid and her blade were their best defence, but the slitherwings were quickly working this out. When her back turned they would lunge, causing a dent in their defensive ring.

"Ruffnut watch it!" Snotlout suddenly shouted, snatching Astrid's axe and swinging it still partially in her grasp. Ruffnut ducked as the blade collided with the animal's face, opening up a sizeable gash along the side of the slitherwings face. It hissed and retreated behind its comrades as another struck forward while Astrid and Snotlouts defence were completely down. Its head stole forward at speed, teeth bared against its gaping maw -

And sunk straight through Snotlouts arm.

The viking howled as the fangs struck home, piercing right through his bracers and into the soft flesh beneath. The group yelled in their suprise, Astrid covering their rear as they leapt to grab his other outstretched hand while the dragon tried to drag him back, its body sliding back down into its hole and trying to take its dinner with it. Several hands were now clung to the flailing viking, stretched taught like a skin to dry. Over their panicked cries, the echo of a distressed dragon drifted over the ridge followed by the rapid pumping of wings.

Hookfang and the group of dragons descended down from the sky and began to rain fire in globs of molten rock and sparks. After their first encounter with this species, instinct would have taught them that these dragons were dangerous and to be avoided at all costs, but the loyalties that bound each dragon to their rider were strong. Fire was a slitherwing's weakness, and despite their paper-thin wings, were unable to truly fly which they used to advantage, wheeling in low circles and spitting the glowing flames from above. 

A slitherwing was blasted backwards into the group by a plasma blast as Toothless finally emerged from the trees at speed, distracting the now defensive dragons. Several retreated back down into their burrows, quickly followed by the rest. The last remaining slitherwing was still clinging on to Snotlout. That was until an angry monstrous nightmare descended from the sky in an angry jacket of flame, spewing fire in an aggressive breath at its exposed eyes. 

Disoriented and burnt, it ripped its teeth out from Snotlouts flesh and slithered away, the side of its head and body smoking and charred. Snotlouts body fell limp as the pressure pulling him away vanished, and he collapsed on the ground. The riders immediately rushed around him and assessed the damage.

He breathing was heavy and strained through gritted teeth, eyes wide with terrified horror that fixated on his mutilated arm. The serrated teeth of the slitherwing had taken much of his flesh from his arm when it pulled away;

His forearm from the elbow down was shredded to pieces.

Blood was flooding out of the arm like fountains, turning tarred and almost fizzing as it hit the air - the poison was already working. Stringy bits of torn flesh were beginning to congeal and stiffen, and a prominent section of bone was on display for all to see. The damaged nerves made the arm twitch and shudder, throwing droplets of dark liquid onto the dirt.

Hiccup flickered his eyes over the scene in distressed anguish. He had no clue what to do - if the poison didn't kill him, he would bleed out in a few hours anyway. He saw Snotlout staring at his body in terror, instinctively acting and pushing his head roughly away.

"Don't look at at!" He barked, holding the quaking man's head away and taking up his good hand. His breathing was becoming worse, strangled and shaking with each inhale. "You need to breathe, okay?" He kept his voice as level as possible coaxing him on with a squeeze of him palm. He looked up at the anxious riders, looking uneasily at him for instructions.

"Fishlegs, how long does he have?" He said calmly to the slightly shivering large man.

"Uh, th-the-the venom takes 24 hours to completely kill but, with this amount of blood loss he wont last an hour."

"If we can stop the venom from spreading and stem the bleeding, does he have a chance?" Fishlegs paused eyes dancing as he searched through his thoughts.

"I-I suppose its possible but how?"

Hiccup looked grimly at the twitching limb. It gave him a gross feeling of ďêja vu.

"Astrid, hold his arm still," he instructed. The blonde quickly obliged, getting down on her knees and pinning the limb against the ground. Snotlout winced as the pressure reapplied.

"We need something to torniquet his arm," Hiccup said. "Any ideas as to what we can use?" The twins began scrambling amongst one another for ideas while Fishlegs stared at him, wide-eyed.

"You're gonna..." he trailed off at Hiccups dismal expression.

There was a sudden scuffle with the twins as Ruffnut snatched up the axe and cut it swiftly across several of tuffnut dangling dreads, much to his dismay. "We can use these," she cried, stuffing them hastily into Fishlegs' clammy hands.

"Tie them just above his elbow - tightly," he put emphasis on the last work. As Fishlegs began to fumble with the threads of ropey hair, Hiccup looked back to Snotlout. He was staring off into the distance, eyes watery and slightly glazed over.

"What's happening?" He rasped. He could still feel his arm undoubtedly, but his consciousness seemed to be drifting through phases of actual awareness. Hiccup didn't believe he had even registered him talking to the other riders.

"Snotlout," he started gently. "You're arm is in a very bad way. If we don't do anything you'll die, you understand?" He nodded slowly, weakly.

"What are you gonna do?" He asked quietly, the lids of his eyes drooping again. Hiccup paused and sucked in a breath.

"We're gonna have to take the arm off Snotlout."

At this, his dull icy eyes snapped open like a shot. 

"No, yo-you can't!" He choked on air as he struggled to squeeze the words out. He began to flail with what little strength he had left Astrid having to double down the pressure on his ruined arm. Hiccup quickly nodded to the twins who got down to help restrain him, pinning his kicking legs until he weakened and slowed, eventually stopping entirely. Tears were running freely from his eyes now, his one remaining hand clinging desperately to his cousin's.

"Hiccup...please,' he whispered, lip trembling. The lean viking had to avert his gaze; the guilt weighing down on his shoulders was crushing. He slipped his hand out of Snotlouts own, fiddling with the buckles on his own bracers until the leather came loose, leaving the underlying red tunic exposed.

"When I say now Snotlout, you need to bite down on this," he stated, offering the side with the most area of exposed leather. "It'll hurt really bad at first, but I promise it'll get better, okay?" 

The trembling viking stared down the length of the bracer, defeated. He reluctantly took the leather up in his teeth, wearing a reassuring pat from Hiccup. "You're gonna be fine Snotlout," he soothed, fixating his attention on Fishelegs, the only person now without a task.

He nodded to the axe, now laying unused on the dirt. "Fishlegs, grab the axe," he ordered. He picked it up uncertainly, holding the heavy weapon awkwardly in his grasp. It almost looked small in his enormous hands. Hiccup looked the man dead in the eye - both an unnerving and calming gesture.

"You need to make sure you cut just before his elbow," he said swiftly. The realisation hit home for Fishlegs as his eyes grew wider, holding the axe as far away from himself as possible.

"Hiccup I ca-"

"You have the most power behind you than the rest of us, Fish. It needs to be you." The axe was now tremoring in his grasp as Fishlegs to, began to shake with crippling nerves. "You got this Fishlegs," Hiccup said calmly. "Just don't think about it."

Fishlegs let his eyes close, taking in Hiccups his words before taking a deep breath, steeling himself. He exhaled, opening his eyes once more to give hiccup a nod, expression blank and solemn.

"When I say now," Hiccup said, glancing towards the others who all nodded, keeping their hands held tightly into Snotlouts body. "You ready Snotlout?" Hiccup said finally, checking back with the viking who gave a weak nod of his head. "Okay then". Fishlegs raised the axe high above his head, ears pricked for Hiccup's signal. An eerie silence fell over the land.

"Now."

The axe came down hard, with a thick chut as it hit solid matter. The curve of the blade had severed clean, now wedged slightly into the dry earth below them. The silence shattered through Snotlouts strangled cries and groans of pain, teeth sunken into the leather bracer as though he may actually bite through it, crushing Hiccup's poor hand in his pained grip.

Throughout the riders struggle, the dragons had stood on guard behind them, on keen alert for if the slitherwings dared come back. Hookfang on the other hand had been pacing restlessly, crooning every now and again at the close-knit group. He had wanted to go over there, but was shooed off if he got too close. He was certain they were trying to help however, so he obeyed, but it made him feel no better. The scream Snotlout suddenly emitted was too much to keep him away.

He shot forward, barging Fishlegs sideways and hissing menacingly at him, flames slinking over his scales. He turned and cawed, clearly distressed at the sight of the dismembered limb and his rider pinned down and in pain of the ground. Hiccup raised his hand and tried to calm him.

"Easy boy," he said gently. "We are trying to help." Hookfang was clearly not convinced, giving Snotlout a gentle nudge with his nose.

"Fishlegs, grab the axe and homd it out for Hookfang, tell him to blast it," Hiccup instructed the rotund viking stood several paces away, eyeing Hookfang warily.

"Why?" 

"We need to cauterize the wound," Hiccup said. "It'll sterilize the wound and hopefully stop the bleeding. Just approach him slowly," he advised.

Fishlegs gulped, edging slowly closer to the fretting nightmare. The dragon caught him in his eyeline and spun, glaring at the viking with a low growl. "Its okay Hookfang," he said carefully, trying to reassure himself as well as the dragon. "We need your help." He slowly dipped down and scooped up the blade, still stained red with Snotlout's blood. The nightmare's growling grew into a threatening hiss, stranding up on his hind legs and stretching out his wings.

"Easy," Fishlegs cooed, offering the blade forward in the most non-threatening manner possible. "We just need you to heat up the blade - to help Snotlout," he quickly added. The dragons eyes narrowed, looking suspiciously from the viking to the group huddled around his groaning rider. A tendril of smoke expelled from his slitted nostrils, and he opened his mouth without warning.

Fishlegs jolted backwards as a thick stream of molten, dancing flames spewed out of his mouth and encased the metal curvature of the weapon till it began to glow a blinding neon orange. Fishlegs cursed, pulling the axe away before it melted entirely and swapped his hands over - the leaping flames had grazed the edges of his knuckles.

He carried the blade back over and looked to Hiccup for instruction. "Hold the flat side of the blade against the arm, and keep it there till I say," he said firmly. What remained of Snotlout's arm had been pouring with blood, staining the dirt till it was almost black. The plus what that it was no longer fizzing or hardening - they had removed the venom.

"Snotlout, you're gonna be in a lot more pain in a moment, but it's the only way to stop the bleeding okay? Make sure you bite down hard again." Hiccup informed him. Snotlout grunted weakly in reply. His consciousness was starting to wane once more.

Hiccup braced himself along with the group, and nodded for Fishlegs to proceed. The blade pressed against Snotlout's expose flesh and immediately began to hiss, meat-scented smoke curling up into the atmosphere. Snotlout immediately jolted in response, a strangled howl reverberating around and down into the ghostly holes dotted into the earth, threatening to disturb the slitherwings once more.

Hiccups teeth gritted hard together with a sickening crunch as his hand was crushed in Snotlouts pained iron grip. The man was strong as an ox, he wasn't sure if his hand would survive the force being placed upon it. At the point where he felt his fingers were at the point of popping off entirely, the grip began to weaken. Snotlout's chest was heaving, his forehead gleaned with a shiny coating of sweat, eyes beginning to roll in their sockets. His lids slid closed and grew still as he blacked out entirely.

"Take the axe off," Hiccup told fishlegs, using his unsquashed ha d to carefully pry open Snotlouts eyelids. "He's completely out," he confirmed, finally looking at the end result of Snotlout's turmoil.

The arm was charred and smoking, but the bleeding had reduced significantly. The sight was rather sickening, the thick chunk of bone a stark white against the raw, bloodied flesh surrounding it. He looked like a ham, freshly chopped. Hiccup swallowed down a chunk of bile threatening to erupt from his throat, instead busting himself with trying to rip the sleeve of his tunic. 

"We need to bandage it as best we can and get him to Gothi as soon as possible," Hiccup said. The others agreed and helped him to cut the tunic sleeve up into strips and carefully wrap it around the exposed stump until it was completely covered.

"What should we do with that?" Tuffnut asked, pointing to the ruins of what was once Snotlout's right hand. Hiccup stared at the shredded flesh, almost indecipherable as an arm from the condition it was in, the still intact fingers being the only giveaway.

"Leave it for the slitherwings," Hiccup said bitterly, mounting up on Toothless.

"Fishlegs, carry him back on Hookfang, is he shows signs of waking, tell us immediately," he ordered. Fishlegs gave an obedient salute and scooped up the unconscious viking tenderly, hanging limp and bridal style in his arms. Hookfang was more than happy to offer a lift, leaping up into the air and narrowing off towards Berk, the rest of the group and the unridden Meatlug trailing morosely behind.

End.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! ^-^ (and believe it or not I do love Snotlout, I just express it by brutally torturing him through various methods of mental and physical pain...lmao)


End file.
